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six months of what? Dialysis?” I asked, confused.
    When he responded, I felt as if someone plunged a knife into my heart.
    “That’s how long I’ve got…” he paused.
    “To live,” he said as he looked up.
    The reality of it all sank into my being.
    This man was dying.
    Most people live their lives concerned with what they own, where they live, and who they know. How much money they make, what they drive, and the clothes that they wear are mor e important than living a life of worth.
    I stood over Kelli’s f ather full. Full of anger, grief, sorrow, and of hope. Hope that I could trade all that I had and all that I would ever have to buy him more time on this earth. I attempted to swallow through what proved to be a throat that was full of love.
    “Gene…” I paused and tried to maintain my composure.
    He continued to cry. It had become uncontrollable for him. He was sobbing.
    I knelt down on both knees, and placed my hand on his shoulder. I turned my head and wiped the tears from my face with my free hand. Gene needed strength, comfort, and hope. For the life of me, I could not stop crying. The thought of Kelli losing her father was more than I wanted to accept right now.
    Especially now.
    I turned back to him as tears streamed down my face.
    “Gene…”
    He lifted his head from his hands and through his sobs, tried to speak.
    “Erik, make me a promise. You’re a man of honor, make me a promise,” he asked, his hands shaking and face soaked with tears.
    “Anything,” I stuttered.
    “Take care of my little girl, Erik.” He said as he stood.
    He wiped his face on his forearm , looked up at the ceiling and he screamed. He literally screamed the loudest most nerve racking howl I had ever heard. He shook his head, lowered his gaze, and looked at me.
    “I’ m alright now,” he paused.
    “Son-of-a-bitch, I l ost it there for a few minutes. I just needed to clear my head. I used to do that in the war - a good blood curdling scream. We’d be on the river taking fire, and I manned the machine gun. I’d fucking scream and let ‘em have it. It made it all make sense. Sometimes a good loud scream is all that it takes to clear the mind and soul of a mile of grief. Wipe those tears off of your face, son. You look like a damned fool,” he said as he pointed to my face and smiled.
    I turned the other direction and wiped my face. His strength and his situation caused me to choke as I wiped my tears.
    I started to cry again.
    I gazed down at the floor, and placed both hands over my face and wiped my tears.
    This was useless.
    I looked up, still rubbing my eyes.
    And I screamed.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    THE BONE. “Listen up,” I paused and bit my cigarette between my teeth.
    “ You with the mouth, talking in the back. Turn around,” I cupped my hands around my cheeks and screamed.
    “Where you from?” I asked, pulling the cigarette from my lips.
    “ The Patriot Guard,” he responded.
    “Well, I appreciate all you fellas stand for. I don’t know how you do it when you’re having a meeting, but when we have ‘em, we have one person speak and everyone else listens. I’m the speaker, so turn around and pay attention, alright?” I lowered the tone of my voice a little as I spoke.
    “Fellas, we have an issue. A concern. I have no idea if we can resolve it, but I’m sure going to give it all my attention,” I scanned the room to make sure all eyes were on me.
    I looked down at th e floor and took a drag from my cigarette.
    “Doc’s girl, Sis. Her father is dying. Dying as we speak. He has from a week or so to maybe a few weeks to live. His kidney is failing and he only has one. He lost the other in the war. His blood type is AB negative, which is really rare,” I exhaled and took another drag from the cigarette.
    “ He needs a donor. There’s no amount of money that we can raise to fix this. A Poker run isn’t going to fix anything. A fundraiser isn’t the answer. One person is needed,” I